There are some things in life you do just once.
Polar bear dipping in January. Eating raw conch off the dive boat. Making mayonnaise by hand with a wooden spoon.
You know, in the end, it only took me 47 minutes to make this genuinely divine mayonnaise by hand. But dear reader…that was my third try. I broke the first two.
All in all, I spent just under two hours beating egg yolks and oil today, and let me just say that I feel it.
This recipe really does make a bright and delicious mayonnaise, though, and it’s truly well worth making. If you give it a go by hand, check out today’s cooking notes, which hopefully might save you those first two tries.
Here’s a photo of the recipe as it appears in the cookbook:
Thought I’d include the whole page today…so many interesting sauces! From Warne’s Model Cookery and Housekeeping Book, 1868 Photo Credit: The 1800’s Housewife.
A FEW COOKING NOTES:
HOW MUCH IS A SPOONFUL?
In this recipe, I feel pretty confident that she is referring to a salt-spoon, which would be ¼ teaspoon.
This is the amount I used, and it makes a wonderfully bright and well-flavored mayonnaise.
WHAT KIND OF “SALAD OIL” TO USE:
Generally, olive oil was the choice for salad dressings. It’s common in old cook books for olive oil to be referred to as “salad oil” or “sweet oil”.
Several of the Mayonnaise recipes in my other 1800’s cook books specify olive oil, and none of them specify another specific type, so olive oil is what I went with.
HOW MUCH OIL TO USE?
I used 1¼ cups of olive oil, total. It would also have been a lovely mayonnaise, had I stopped at 1 cup–so anywhere in there is a good amount to plan on.
HOW MUCH OIL TO START WITH?
THIS was the part the messed me up the first two times. I put in about ¼ cup of oil for the initial beating with the egg yolks, like so many of the blender or food processor methods call for these days.
This did not work with beating by hand. I ended up with broken emulsions on my first two attempts.
What ended up working for me, was beating the yolks alone until they were slightly lighter in color, then adding two teaspoons of oil, and fully incorporating that before adding more. Then adding just a teaspoon at a time of the oil (all the while beating away as though your life depends upon it), until all of a sudden things start to change and you’ve got a lighter, thicker mixture that is clearly “working”.
WHEN TO START PUTTING IN LEMON JUICE
On my second attempt, I rushed putting in the lemon juice. Because of the wording “as soon as the oil and eggs begin to mix”, it felt like there was some urgency. But what ended up working for me was waiting to put any lemon juice in, until after I absolutely knew I had a good emulsion, once the mixture was unmistakably lighter and thicker.
📖 Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 egg yolks
- 1 lemon
- 1 ¼ cups olive oil
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
- ¼ teaspoon sugar
Instructions
- "Yolks of two eggs; one lemon; salad oil; one spoonful of pepper; one spoonful of salt; same of moist sugar. A Mayonnaise is simply a French dressing for salad."
- Mix the yolks of two or three eggs with the pepper and salt;
- then work together with them the salad oil; mix it so thoroughly that it may appear a perfect cream.
- Keep by your side a lemon cut in two.
- As soon as the oil and eggs begin to mix, squeeze in the lemon juice, add more oil, drop by drop, then more lemon juice, till the mixture is finished. Add the oil by degrees, not all at once. Let it be a perfect cream before you use it.
- Use a wooden spoon, and mix in a cool place.
Kathi says
Good morning, Anna! Just wanted to share results of this recipe with you. First off, let me tell you I have just started trying to cook and make as much from scratch as I can. After trying to figure out no cook meals given the heat and humidty and discovering I had run out mayo, I thought of trying this recipe. I did make some tweaks, however, one of them being using my kitchen aid with the whip gadget. The 2nd tweak I made was using veg oil vs EEOV as I didn’t have any. I don’t know if veg oil made a heavier mayo or not in terms of the emulsying. I used 3 egg yolks (fresh eggs) vs the 2 called for and whipped with the salt, pepper, and some spices I had until all blended. I used only 1 cup of oil, adding 1 tsp at a time until well blended after each tsp, and adding 1-2 drops of lemon juice with it (no lemons). I kept the mixer on the highest speed for nearly 1 hr, stopping every now and then to scrape down sides. After rereading the recipe and discovering I forgot the sugar, I added it later, but after taste testing prior, I think I could have done w/o it as it make the mayo a little more tart which I liked better. After nearly 1 hr of whipping at high speed, it really started to thicken up, and after 1 hr I stopped for a taste test and to see the consistency. It was perfect! It is now in the fridge waiting to be put into a deviled egg mix! Thank you for sharing.
Anna says
Hi Kathi! Thank you so much for taking the time to share your detailed notes, I LOVE hearing from readers when they try these old recipes and find ways to enjoy them in daily life. This mayo sounds delicious, and I bet those deviled eggs are going to be incredible! Thank you again so much for sharing. Cheering you on from Maine!
Kathi says
A sidenote to yesterday’s comment. It dawned on me late last night re oils for this recipe, I could use an infused oil; basil, oregano, even a garlic oil would do, I think, to change up the taste of the mayo a bit. Will let you know. By the way, the deviled eggs were a hit:) Cheers returned from western MA, NOT enjoying the heatwave!
Kathi says
A recent revision to the mayo made earlier: I thinned it down with lemon juice and plan to use it over some asparagas as a mock Hollandaise sauce.
Anna says
Oh my goodness, now I can’t wait for asparagus season to return because I want to try this! Wow, that sounds delicious!